Brothers In Trouble
by Jellico
Summary: Sequel to "The Cost of Forgiveness", takes place three months later. Living under the same roof with Dan and Deb, Nathan and Lucas can't seem to stay out of mischief. If they're not playing pranks on each other, they're wreaking havoc of another kind, having fun as the brothers they were always meant to be. But sometimes the fun can go too far and sometimes bad boys gets spanked...
1. Boredom Relieved

On the floor in his room, Nathan lay on his back and balanced the basketball once again on the area between his fingers and the pads of his right hand. He extended his arm completely, propelling the ball in the air directly above his head, then caught it, sighed and repeated the motion for what had to be the two hundredth time in a row. This kind of drill was important for improving his shooting on the court, but still. He couldn't remember ever being so bored. He let his mind drift to the reason he was in his room alone on a Saturday night in the first place, doing this drill without any tunes to keep him company, and soon he began to chuckle. He was supposed to be in punishment – on a "timeout" away from Lucas who had also been banished to his room across the hall – but screw it.

Grinning already, Nathan tossed his basketball aside, then got up and tiptoed to his bedroom door. He opened it and peered outside, listening carefully, but the coast was clear of any parents, so he closed the door quickly behind him, then dashed over to Luke's room and slipped inside without knocking.

By the window, Lucas wasn't the least bit surprised at his sneaky entrance. He smirked as he bent to collect the three tennis balls he had just dropped and said, "You're being a bad boy again, Bro. You're not supposed to be in here, remember? Your mom and my stepmom made that very clear about two hours ago."

"Whatever." Nathan took a flying leap onto Luke's bed then made himself comfortable stacking pillows and cushions behind his head. He watched his sibling juggle pathetically for almost a minute before he couldn't take it anymore. "Dude, _what_ are you doing?"

Lucas bent to collect the balls that kept escaping him, then glanced over with an arched eyebrow. "Did you forget that massive food fight we had all over the house this afternoon?"

"How could I forget that?" Nathan said with a snort. "It just happened and we spent, like, half the day cleaning up that huge mess with Mom yelling at us the whole time."

"Liar. Deb didn't yell."

"Whatever. She still gave us a shitload of grief and now we have no MP3 players for the next week, no iPODs, no cell phones, no laptops, no PlayStations, no cars, no friggin' car keys and not even the freedom to leave the house for anything but school and basketball practice. Oh and in case that wasn't enough, every TV in the house is off-limits too."

Lucas shrugged. "Exactly, so I figure it's time I learned a new skill." He tossed the tennis balls one at a time in the air again, his feet set more widely apart to balance himself while he labored to get a rhythm going. "For the record, juggling's a lot harder – damn it! – than it looks."

Nathan watched him rushing to catch the balls that were once more rolling across the carpet and he tossed one of his cushions at Luke's head. "For the record, you suck at juggling, this whole grounding thing sucks and I'm pretty sure us being grounded period is all your sucky fault."

"Hey!" Lucas lobbed the cushion back at Nathan then went back to practising. "How is _any_ of this my fault? You're the one who threw the first —"

"It's your fault because I used to get away with murder when it just me, my mom and our dad living here. Ever since your scrawny ass moved in across the hall, I'm like a friggin' kid in a candy store. I'm in trouble every other day screwing around with you, Mom's actually trying to get me to behave and do my homework now, and I don't even _know_ who Dad is anymore with his Daddy-knows-best crap. And it's pretty obvious _you're_ the one who changed them both, so yeah, our current suck-ass situation is totally your fault."

To punctuate his little rant, Nathan flung the cushion back at Luke's head, but Lucas didn't duck out of the way. He let it smack him in the ear and simply stared at Nathan, his entire upper body tense.

"You saying you want me to move out?"

Nathan's response was to whip another cushion at him. "If you move back to your mom's, dum-dum, who am I gonna lock out of the house naked the next time we go skinny-dipping in the pool?"

Lucas relaxed at Nathan's impish grin. He kicked both cushions in his brother's direction then went back to juggling. "Speaking of that really – _really_ – humiliating incident," he said. "I'm giving you fair warning that payback is gonna be sweet."

"You think so, huh?"

"Oh yeah."

"Wanna bet?"

"Don't push me, Little Brother."

"You know, Luke ... you really shouldn't have said that!"

As Nathan lunged off the bed with the same devious expression on his face that had prefaced their food fight earlier, Lucas tried to catch his tennis balls while darting out of the way, but he wasn't fast enough. Armed with a pillow, Nathan whacked him full in the face, then kept on attacking despite Luke's attempts to escape, even going so far as to punt him in the butt with his foot. It hurt, but Lucas couldn't stop laughing. He whipped the tennis balls at Nathan, then snatched up the only pillow left on this bed and scrambled over the mattress to put some distance between them, but Nathan was right on his tail and tackled him. The boys went down in a heap, then rolled into the night-stand and knocked over a lamp, but they were too busy shouting and trying to best each other to notice.

... or at least they _were_ oblivious until Deb barged into the room and had to yell to get their attention.

"BOYS! _BOYS!_ STOP IT RIGHT NOW!"

Striving for contrition the way he would have with Karen, Lucas stifled a snort and tried to look at least a little less guilty as he moved away from his brother. "Uh, sorry, Deb, we—"

"Lucas, I really don't want to hear it," Deb cut him off. She looked at the state of his room with the bed frame askew, pillows and cushions everywhere, and the lamp on its side before focusing once more on the two obviously unrepentant teenagers at her feet. "Just what has gotten into you two lately? I sent you both up here to calm down and quit acting so – so _wild_ and _this_ is what happens?!" Abruptly, Deb turned on her son. "Nathan, you are disobeying me _again_."

"Mom—"

"What did I tell you downstairs? I distinctly told you to go to your own room and stay there, didn't I? What're you doing in here with Lucas?"

"Gee, relieving boredom maybe?"

Deb wasn't impressed. She came forward and pinched Nathan's chin, getting right in his face. "Well, find another way to entertain yourself, Mister, or I will ground you both until you graduate." She straightened up with a huff and began stalking back across the room. "Now I am going back downstairs and I don't want to hear another peep out of either one of you for the rest of the night. In fact, both of you brush your teeth and go to bed. It's late."

"What are we? Six?" Nathan scoffed. "You gonna give us baths too, Mommy, and help us put our jammies on?"

Lucas elbowed his brother sharply as Deb immediately stopped walking and turned back. Meeting Nathan's scowl with a pretty stern look of her own, Deb pointed a finger at her son. "I'm warning you, Nathan Royal Scott. You watch your mouth, or I will go wake up your father and let _him_ deal with you."

Considering how involved Dan had become with his sons the last twelve weeks, that wasn't exactly an idle threat and both boys knew it. When Nathan set his jaw stubbornly but wisely chose not to reply, Deb took that as having made her point and left. For almost a minute the brothers sat where they were, not really doing anything, until Lucas began scanning the floor for his tennis balls.

"Well, there's no way I can fall asleep at ten-thirty on a Saturday night, so it's back to juggling, I guess."

"Screw that," Nathan snapped." He bolted to his feet then cuffed his brother's shoulder. "I've had enough of this crap. Let's go."

"Where?"

"My room."

Lucas rolled his eyes as he got up off the floor. "Holy cow, a change of scenery. I don't think I can stand the excitement, Nate."

"Just shut up, get in there and look out the window, jackass!"


	2. Planning a Joyride

The brothers went with Nathan shoving Lucas ahead of him. Lucas wasn't about to take that and shoved him back just as hard, but their friendly scuffling ended the second Lucas reached Nathan's window and gazed out in wonder at the extremely expensive sports car parked in their driveway. His jaw literally dropped. The vehicle down below was an aerodynamic masterpiece that Lucas had read could go from zero to sixty in less than four seconds and had a whopping 650 horsepower at 8,000 revolutions per minute. The car was a shade of blue that could only be described as azure, and it was just gleaming, its every inch washed and polished to a super high sheen. Luke's eyes lingered over its scissor doors and its lightweight aluminum bodywork from hood to trunk then back again, a smile of yearning and admiration forming across his handsome face.

"Dude, tell me this is real."

"It's real all right."

"So you're saying I'm not imagining this? That's really a Bugatti EB110 Super Sport in front of our house?"

"I think so, yeah. Well, it's a Bugatti anyway, the fastest ride in town I'm willing to bet."

"No shit," Lucas breathed. He meant to glance over at Nathan while he replied, but he couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from the vision before him. "Man, Uncle Keith would _love_ to get under the hood of that car. What's it doing here anyway?"

Nathan shrugged. "You know Dad. He's gotta be the first to test drive all the new inventory on his lot. He pulled up in it a few hours ago."

"And you didn't tell me?!" Lucas whipped around and punched him in the arm. "You jackhole!"

"Sorry! Ow!" Nathan apologized then laughed as Lucas abruptly decided he'd rather salivate out the window than keep beating him up.

"You know, Dad can't be trying to sell that car," Lucas declared after a moment. "No one in Tree Hill could afford it, not even him with all the money he's embezzled over the years."

"Whatever." Nathan opened the window a little more and leaned out. "I don't care _why_ it's here; I'm just glad it _is_ here."

"You and me both. What I wouldn't give to get behind the wheel."

Nathan could understand that. He checked out his brother's profile and realized he'd never seen Lucas stare at an object with such open longing before, not even during their freshman and sophomore years when Luke's ongoing crush over Peyton had been the school's worst kept secret. Taking that as just one more sign of what he and his brother should do, Nathan promptly reached out to shove him then kept doing it until Lucas turned to him with impatience.

"What, dude?"

Nathan grinned. "Me too."

"Me too what?"

"Me too what I wouldn't give to get behind the wheel, so you wanna do it? C'mon, man, let's do it!"

Nathan's excitement was infectious but Lucas laughed at him straight up. "Are you kidding, Nate? No way! You're outta your mind!"

"I know, right? C'mon!"

"Forget it! We don't have our driver's licenses anymore. Deb took those away too, remember?"

"So what?"

"So if we get caught or we dent that car in _any_ way—"

"We're dead, Luke, I get it, now are you in?" When Lucas gazed at him with amusement but still refused to agree to take it for a joyride, Nathan pointed out the window. "Come _on_ , Bro! Look at that car! Why do you think you live here now if it's not to do crazy shit like this with me? This is what close brothers do, isn't it?"

That turned the tide just as Nathan knew it would. Lucas chewed his lower lip for only a second before he kicked his conscience to the curb and allowed his eyes to shine with the anticipation of a new adventure.

"Fine, you maniac, you win, but how're we gonna get the keys from Dad?"

"Don't need to," Nathan bragged. He went to his desk, opened the top drawer and removed them, dangling them aloft. "I got 'em right here. Stole 'em from Dad's room after he fell asleep early for once, which means there's nothing stopping us now. Are you really gonna do this with me?"

Lucas snatched the keys from him with a grin and stuffed them into the right front pocket of his jeans. "Hell yeah! Let's go!"


	3. A Brief Taste of Freedom

In the hallway, their plans were immediately thwarted by Deb, who had just come back upstairs expecting to turn in. Needless to say, she was none too pleased to catch them still hanging out together, not even close to being ready for bed! With orders to march straight back to their separate rooms this minute (or else!), the boys exchanged a look but obeyed, fully intending to climb out their respective windows and escape their grounding that way instead.

Deb had other plans.

Although she didn't know what exactly her son and stepson were up to, she could tell from their faces that whatever it was couldn't be good, so she set up a chair right there in the hall between their two rooms and sat guard. A chorus of complaints bombarded her when she decreed that neither teenager was permitted to close his door, but Deb stood firm. She said she alone would shut their doors after she was satisfied they were asleep and then she sat in her chair and kept an eye on both of them, refusing to discuss this any further. Lucas, of course, was the first to obey her by turning off his lights, stripping down and going to be bed, but eventually Nathan followed suit too – with a few choice words for his mother.

Deb ignored him and stayed exactly where she was.

Right then she was more than a little envious of Karen and her current freedom from parenthood, but after thinking about it some more, Deb realized she didn't really want to give up her two boys or trade them in for a pair of well-behaved daughters. Nathan and Lucas fed off each other and drove her and Dan nuts more often than not lately, but that was the fun of it. They certainly made life in the Scott house happy and interesting now and they definitely tested both her parenting skills and Dan's almost every other day!

It took another hour, but finally the boys were no longer tossing left and right and Deb was satisfied that her two hellions were asleep. Padding softly to Nathan's bedside first, Deb listened to his deep breathing and watched his slumbering form before leaning down to tuck him in and run a hand over his hair. A minute later she did the same with Lucas, who was spread-eagled on his mattress, his left foot dangling over the side. Back in the hallway, Deb yawned and returned the chair she'd been sitting in to the spare room, and then made her way to the master bedroom she shared with Dan. A second later, the door snicked shut behind her.

For fifteen minutes more there was silence throughout the Scott mansion, but then a number of sly and furtive movements began. Covers were tossed back, clothes and shoes were hastily donned, wallets were snatched up, and two dishevelled but grinning teen brothers bumped firsts outside their respective bedrooms, then snuck downstairs. At Luke's insistence, they detoured into the laundry room to rummage as quietly as possible through the toolbox under the sink, but the second Lucas found what he was looking for, they shut off the lights, zipped through the kitchen, turned off the house alarm, and slipped out the back door.

In the driveway, the brothers halted briefly to tour the Bugatti and admire it up close as much as they could in the moonlight. They trailed their fingertips along the shiny metal while they glanced at each other over the roof every few seconds, grinning like fools and certain that nothing could or would stop them now. Nothing did. Finally, Lucas dug the car keys out of his pocket and pressed the button on the fob that would unlock both doors.

"Wait," Nathan said once they were seated inside. "This engine is too powerful to start here, Luke. We start it here and we're dead."

"I know." Lucas inserted the key into the ignition but didn't turn it. "We need to put her in neutral first."

"Well, how the hell're we gonna do that without starting the engine?"

"Man, you really did need Keith in your life, didn't you? Watch and learn, Little Brother. Watch and learn." With a grin, Lucas brandished the flat-head screwdriver he'd taken from the toolbox in the house, then put it quickly to use, prying up the removable panel located by the shift selector. While he inserted it into the hole to engage the manual shift lock the way their mechanic uncle had taught him years ago – although never for this reason – Lucas said, "I hope Deb and Dad are really deep sleepers 'cause the second this beauty turns over, even down the street, she's gonna wanna roar."

Nathan was all for that!

At Luke's urging, he got out, braced himself against the open door and got ready to push once the key was turned to the "Acc" position, and then as soon as Lucas depressed the brake pedal, moved the shift selector to neutral, and then exited the car too, Nathan leaned forward with all his weight. Out the driveway and down the street for three full blocks he sweated and heaved while Lucas did the same on his own side and used one arm to steer them carefully out of the way of every vehicle parked on the road. Eventually, they decided they were far enough away from home to start the car safely and the brothers jumped in.

The first roar of the engine was incredible!

With bulges in their pants that would make any porn star proud, the Scott boys whooped out into the night as Lucas tramped on the gas, shifted gears, and then spun them south. He navigated a half-dozen neighborhoods, including his old one where Karen still lived, and then hit the center of town in no time at all, feeling invincible. This was living! With every second that passed, with every head that turned to watch, Lucas felt like he was driving a ballistic missile. Beside him, he knew that Nathan felt the same, but as cool as it was having late night revelers stop, stare and cat-call after them, Lucas knew this couldn't go on; he couldn't keep showing off around Tree Hill where people were, or there was going to be trouble. Either a cop was going to spot them and pull them over with lights flashing, or some drunken guy with more balls than good sense was going to get it into his head to try and chase them. Besides there was too many stop signs around here and way too many traffic lights as well. They had to find somewhere open to give their baby free rein without killing themselves or anyone else in the process, so Lucas contained himself with effort and drove them just under the speed limit from that point on until they were out of Tree Hill completely, away from just about everything far out in cow country in Griffinton.

After that there was almost no stopping him!

He blinked and hit fifty miles per hour, then blinked again and he was well past a hundred. The Bugatti could easily have reached two hundred and surpassed that as well with ease, but Lucas didn't dare let it. The road they were on wasn't straight and he could feel the awesome power in the engine. If he let the EB110 show him everything that she could do, both he and his brother would end up bloody and torn for sure and probably upside down to boot. Lucas reined back the engine with regret, remembering everything Keith had ever told him about racing a sports car, but ten minutes of this and Nathan couldn't take the wait or Luke's common sense approach anymore. He demanded his turn.

"She's basically a high-end rocket sled," Lucas warned him as they swapped places. "So take it easy, huh? I don't wanna die tonight and I _don't_ wanna get in trouble with Dad. You have to be careful, okay?"

Nathan's reply was to get behind the wheel then gun the engine with a grin. Suddenly, he rammed it in gear and shot them forward, driving all breath from their chests as their heads rocked back.

Lucas was positive his life was going to end. He tried to enjoy the exhilarating ride but found himself making the sign of the cross instead, shouting at his brother a second later to watch for the upcoming bend in the road, which was way too sharp for the speed they were travelling. Somehow they made the curve, but they sure as hell didn't make anything else. In his excitement, Nathan overcompensated to get them back on track and then they were swerving and spinning in the moonlight with all four tires screeching. It seemed their world spiraled forever, but it was only a second or two before they slid off the road and jolted to a stop nose-down in a ditch with the sickening crunch of metal to punctuate their idiocy. A split second after that and two air bags exploded in their faces.


	4. Luke's Confession

Fucked did not begin to describe their situation, and that was the first thing Lucas thought once the bags had deflated of their own accord and he could see his brother alive beside him through the puff of starch now swirling around the car's interior. He couldn't believe how much his head was killing him and the pain that was shooting through his nose. He touched the bridge tentatively to confirm it was only bruised not broken, and then he put a hand to his forehead, not the least bit surprised when he came away with fingertips that were wet and red. Instead of being worried, though, Lucas was immediately thankful. After all, if he was hurt badly enough to bleed, maybe his dad would feel too sorry for him to spank his dumb ass once he found out about this.

In the driver's seat, Nathan wasn't faring much better physically. Emotionally, though, he was leagues ahead of his brother! He put a hand to both his nose and head as well and came away with blood just like Lucas did, a "gift" from the explosive impact of the airbags. This, however, only added to his amusement. He chuckled as he put the car in park, shut off the engine, and pressed the button for the hazard lights, and then he laughed flat out once he opened his door and dropped down into the dusty ditch to survey the wreckage, which was definitely considerable.

"Aw, man, I'm guessing we're screwed!"

"Ya _think?!_ " Lucas retorted.

Nathan watched his irritated brother slide down on his own side but kept right on grinning. "So we're in trouble, Luke. What's new? Mom'll ground us longer, but we'll get out of it once we drive her so crazy she has no choice but to shove us outta the house and give us back our freedom."

"And Dad? Just what do you think he's gonna do about this, huh?"

"The usual." Nathan shrugged. "He'll call us names and make us run suicides until we puke, but that's nothing new. We've done it before; we'll survive it again."

"You ... I can't ... you're friggin' unbelievable, you know that, Nathan?"

"What—?"

"You _really_ think that's all Dad's gonna do?"

"Sure, why not?

Lucas wanted to slap him silly and it showed as he glared at his brother through the car. "Well, for starters, because that was the _old_ Dad, Nate, not the _new_ one. We're grounded and we're supposed to be home in bed, remember? Instead, we just drove a supercar worth half a million dollars into a ditch and we totally crushed the front end of it. And we didn't get Dad's permission to take it anywhere never mind drive it off the goddamn road!" Lucas jabbed a bloody finger at the cracked windshield through which the crumpled hood was visible. "You see that, Little Brother? On a Bugatti that's probably worth more than the first two years of college tuition – for both of us!"

Nathan rolled his eyes at his brother's dramatics. "Calm down, Lucas. We're in trouble. I get it."

"I don't think you _do_ get it," Lucas snapped. "But you're going to, all right. We both are."

To Nathan that sounded a lot more ominous than it should. He had always assumed he knew Dan Scott better than Lucas did since he'd grown up with the man all his life, but did he really? Could Lucas know something that he didn't? As Lucas gave up trying to reach him with a disgusted shake of his head and returned his attention to the car instead, Nathan snapped his fingers to get his attention again. "Hey! Hey, what the hell're you talking about?"

Lucas looked at him straight and didn't even bother trying to soften the truth. "I'm talking about our asses, Nate, and how Dad's gonna beat them raw for this."

"Are you outta your mind? Dad doesn't spank!"

"Oh, he doesn't, does he?" Lucas braced his arms against the roof and arched an eyebrow at his snickering brother. "What about yesterday when you flipped him off after he got on your case for breaking curfew?

Nathan stopped laughing. "You saw that?"

"I saw it. I also saw what he did when he caught you digging cash out of his wallet last month."

On the other side of the car, Nathan's face grew hot with embarrassment. He had been pissed beyond pissed both times when Dan had grabbed his arm, turned him to the side and given him several hard swats to the butt while scolding him, but he couldn't believe his brother had witnessed his humiliation and said nothing. "He cut my allowance for skipping school, Luke. What did he expect? Anyway, what the hell? Are you spying on me too now?"

"I don't have to spy, Nate. I live under the same roof, remember?"

"Well, whatever," Nathan scoffed, trying hard to recover his bravado. "A few whacks to the ass on two separate days three weeks apart don't mean jack, Big Brother. A slap here and there isn't a spanking, and Dad wouldn't even know how to give one that lasted more than two seconds. He's never had any practice."

At that, Lucas smirked. "I'm guessing Dad never told you what he did to me three months ago when I gave him back all that incriminating stuff I was collecting on him."

Nathan didn't like the sound of this. He didn't want to ask, but he couldn't help himself. "No, what did he do?"

Lucas looked away as he felt his own face blushing, but he manned up anyway and turned back to his brother as he confessed. "He spanked me, Nate ... like _spanked me_ spanked me. I'm talking over his knee, pants down, snot and tears kind of spanking. He even made me stand in the corner after."

Nathan stood wide-eyed and frozen at first, but then he shook his head. "No way."

"Way."

Nathan studied his brother intently, waiting for him to point and laugh and reveal he'd been joking, but Lucas didn't do any of those things. He didn't take it back. The urge to call him a liar came and went, and finally, Nathan realized he'd accepted it as truth when he felt his insides begin to twist.

"Jesus, why didn't you tell me?"

"Would you have told me if our roles had been reversed?"

"No. I'd have probably killed myself from the shame."

Lucas made a face. "Trust me, I thought of it."

There wasn't anything Nathan could say to that. He stared at Lucas a moment longer then turned away and leaned against the north bank of the ditch with his arms crossed over his chest, his mind harping relentlessly on what he'd just learned. Lucas climbed the embankment on his side, walked around, then slid down beside Nathan who scowled for five full minutes before he turned to his brother.

"You really think he's gonna—"

"For this? Oh yeah." Lucas put a hand to the cut on his head and winced, thinking of both the accident and the recent changes in their father. He cursed internally at the stupid and completely avoidable situation they were in. "You said it yourself before we even left the house. Dad's not the same parent he used to be. He doesn't just care about himself anymore. Hell, he doesn't even seem to care much about basketball. He cares about _us_ , what we do and how we behave for our own sakes."

Nathan pondered that a moment then shook his head stubbornly. "You know what? I don't care, Luke. Dad can't spank me and he better not even try. You maybe, but not me. I'm emancipated."

"You think that's gonna make a difference?" Lucas scoffed as he let go his head. "You moved back home, Little Brother, and you're living off his dime again same as me. And _you're_ the one who actually crashed the damn car!"

"Well, _you're_ the one who got us into neutral and outta the driveway without making a sound!"

"Well, _you_ swiped the car keys when Dad was sleeping! This was all _your_ idea!"

"So what? You shoulda stopped me, loser! You're supposed to know better! You're older!"

"Only by four friggin' months, jackass! _"_

"Well - well too bad!" Nathan hugged his chest tighter, his brow creased as he glared at his brother. "I'm not gonna let Dad whip my ass over this. I don't care how mad he is or what kind of do-right guy he thinks he is now."

"And I'm telling you you're dreaming," Lucas shot back, "because that's what I thought last time and he _still_ got me pinned over his knees, so you're screwed just like I am, Nathan. Deal with it!"


	5. Help from Gardner

The brothers fell into a dark silence, each stewing about the angry words they had exchanged. With no cell phones, nothing to do and nothing to say to each other that wouldn't steer them right back to what they didn't care to discuss, they kept glancing at the extremely expensive car they had stolen from their father and grew increasingly tense, waiting to be rescued. No one came, though, not a State Highway Patrolman, not other high school kids cruising on a Saturday night, not even a drunken farmer in his jalopy.

An hour of this and that was it for Lucas. Without a word, he climbed out of the ditch and started walking back the way they had come, and sixty seconds later, Nathan locked the car and joined him.

They trudged side-by-side for less than five minutes when Nathan elbowed his brother for no reason. It earned him a look, but that wasn't enough, so Nathan fell back a little then stuck out a foot and tripped Lucas next. That got results. The second Lucas recovered he whipped around and punched Nathan in the arm, but Nathan didn't punch him back, only looked at him with a slow-building grin.

Lucas knew what that meant.

He turned and ran just as Nathan lunged toward him, laughing as he yelled over his shoulder for his brother to quit, which, of course, Nathan did not. The chase lasted half a mile and the boys were both sweaty and spent by the end of it, but the tension between them had disappeared and that was all Nathan had really wanted. While they panted and continued on their trek toward civilization, Nathan brought up the subject of girls in junior high to keep the mood light, and that led to comparing notes with Lucas on which ones they had kissed first, which ones they wanted to make out with but never did, and of course, which girls in high school had been best in bed. Before they knew it, the thing they had been waiting for occurred and the headlights of an oncoming car illuminated the lonesome country road they were travelling.

Right away, Lucas began waving his arms to ensure they were seen, but Nathan peered ahead, trying to see who it was. Suddenly, he grabbed his brother's bicep and tried yanking him off the road.

"Don't, Luke!"

Lucas shoved him away. "Cut it out, Nate! We need help!"

"But it's the sheriff!"

"So what? We can't leave the Bugatti in a ditch all night! The longer she leans forward with most of her weight resting on the front bumper the more damage she's gonna sustain. You think that's gonna help our case with Dad or hurt it?!"

 _"Lucas, it's gonna look like we stole that car! We don't have our licenses, remember?!"_

Lucas stopped waving as he realized Nathan had a point, but it was too late to disappear because the squad car had already seen them. It slowed then came to a stop six feet away with blue and red lights flashing, and then the door opened and the six-foot-four, two hundred and forty pound sheriff of Griffinton exited the vehicle. While the brothers shielded their eyes from the glare of his headlights, he turned on his flashlight to blind them some more, checking them over head to toe before he spoke.

"IDs, boys. Hand 'em over."

Clearly, the sheriff wasn't much for small talk. The brothers shared a glance then reached into their back pockets for their wallets, their stomachs twisting at where this first step would likely lead. The only photo identification they had were the laminated ones they received every September from Tree Hill High, so that's what they gave the sheriff.

"What, you boys don't carry driver's licenses?"

Lucas thought quickly. "We forget 'em at home."

"Really." Sheriff Gardner shined a light on the only IDs they had provided, comparing the details on the two cards. "Scott, huh? You boys related to each other?"

Nathan looked at Lucas and Lucas looked at Nathan. When Nathan continued to keep silent, Lucas realized he had become their official spokesperson. He sighed and looked back at the sheriff. "We're brothers."

"I reckon Dan Scott's your daddy then."

Luke's brow creased as he wondered how the sheriff knew. "Uh ... yeah. I mean, yessir."

"Well, well, well," the sheriff said. He handed the cards back, studied the siblings silently a moment, and then scratched his jaw a minute, letting them sweat. "You know," he finally drawled, "I was kind of expecting you two, but I'll ask it anyway. What're you boys doing out here on foot in the middle of the night? You wouldn't happen to be the two lunatics racing around Tree Hill earlier in a funky blue sports car, would you?"

 _Jesus Christ, who the hell was this guy?_

"Uh, we—" Lucas began but Gardner cut him off.

"Skip it, son. I already know it's you 'cause I got me a call to be on the lookout for all three of you. Seems your sheriff is damn sure you didn't get your daddy's permission to take that car for a spin, most likely 'cause he called your daddy after you boys were spotted downtown." Gardner took a hulking step closer, his piercing gaze traveling from one guilty party to the other. "Since I don't see any sports cars anywhere near here, let me guess. You ain't got the smarts God gave a brick, so you didn't think to slow down on the curves we got out here, and now that baby's ass-up in some ditch a few miles back. That about right?"

Nathan cursed under his breath as Lucas flushed but nodded.

"That also why you boys're all banged up in the head?"

Lucas looked to Nathan to help him out here, but Nathan only made a face that said, _go ahead and answer this jackass, if you want to. I told you not to flag him down._

"Well? Is that why you're hurt?"

Lucas heaved another sigh. "Yes, sir."

"Well, get over here then. I gotta check you out to make sure you're fit to get killed by your daddy once he finds out what you two have done to his car."

Neither brother wanted to hear that, but of course they had. The words were already out.

Reluctantly, Lucas went over to Gardner and had to stifle a yelp as the sheriff shined the flashlight on his face then probed the area around the cut on his forehead with a meaty thumb. A grunt was all he heard before he was cast aside unsympathetically so Nathan could get his turn, and then he watched with a wince while his brother suffered the same rough handling. Inside of twenty seconds, both of their "examinations" were over.

"You'll live," Sheriff Gardner decided. "Now get in my car. Let's go see how much destruction you two idiots caused tonight."

If Nathan could have given him the finger to his face – and gotten away with it – he would have. Instead, he had to get in the back of the squad car alongside his brother and then listen to the sheriff give them crap for shit they already knew at this point. While Gardner drove them back to the Bugatti, he lectured them as sharply as Coach Whitey would have on his worst day, and after he toured the mangled front end of the sports car, found out which Scott brother had actually caused the collision, and then radioed Dispatch for a tow truck, he lectured them some more. Nathan had heard more than enough by the time Gardner declared how well he would have blistered their teenaged hides by now had they been his sons, so when the tow truck arrived, and the Bugatti was properly hitched, Nathan nudged Lucas right away toward the cab, determined to ride up there – and away from the sheriff – for the long drive back to civilization.

Naturally, Gardner had other ideas.

"Not a chance, boys," he said as soon as they tried to make their move. "You two are riding with me. I'm gonna do you a favor by driving you back to Tree Hill instead of forcing your kin to come fetch you way out here, but this favor ain't free, understand? You're gonna learn a lesson about what happens to little boys who "forget" their drivers licenses at home and don't get Daddy's permission before they take his very expensive toys for a joyride. Come here!"


	6. The Return to Tree Hill

Neither Lucas nor Nathan knew what the sheriff meant by that, but they soon learned once the handcuffs came out and the sheriff advanced on them with a sinister smile. Ignoring their complaints entirely, Gardner cuffed Nathan first, and then with the teenager's hands shackled together in front, he planted a hand on Nathan's head and escorted him none-too-gently into the back of the squad car. Ten seconds later Lucas suffered the same indignity, and once Gardner had settled himself behind the wheel, he started right up again with the lecturing.

For the exhausted Scott brothers the ride back to Tree Hill had never seemed so long. They couldn't tune out Gardner's voice, they couldn't cover their ears thanks to their shiny new handcuffs and they couldn't believe how slooooowly the sheriff was driving. His pace was all the more torpid given how quickly the boys had reached Griffinton in the Bugatti hours before, so their feet ached from pressing silently on the backseat floorboards, willing the friggin' squad car to move faster.

It didn't help, of course, nothing did.

Despite the hour, which was closing on 3 AM, Sheriff Gardner deliberately took his time driving them back to Tree Hill, giving the tow truck ample time to get there first and leave the Bugatti at the impound yard. To the immense frustration of his passengers, Gardner reached the outskirts of town a full hour after he should have, and then it was another thirty excruciating minutes before he parked at a virtual crawl in front of the Tree Hill police station. Nathan and Lucas had never been so eager to get inside, but Gardner took the long way around on purpose, guiding them through a side door not open to the public that was usually reserved for transferring prisoners. He handed them over to Tree Hill's finest with no paperwork, only a few words in private and a handshake.

Inside, thanks to the lingering feel of Gardner's handcuffs as well as his extremely lengthy lecture the entire ride over, the boys expected to be fingerprinted and arrested formally, but none of that happened. Sheriff Mathers had the cuts on their heads patched up, but then he informed them that Dan had declined to press charges and was waiting for them outside. The sheriff gave them each a piece of his mind regarding what he thought about that, considering how expensive the Bugatti was going to be to repair, but his lecture – compared to Gardner's –was mercifully short.

Relieved beyond measure, the brothers left.

Outside, as promised, Dan was waiting for them and his face could only be described as grim. The boys shared a glance, braced their shoulders, and then approached him warily, but Dan's temper was fully in check – at least for the moment.

As soon as Lucas was within reach, the expression on Dan's face changed. He pulled his son closer, then cupped his face and tilted his head toward the closest street lamp, determined to inspect the bandage by his hairline. His stress and worry were more than palpable, and the moment Lucas saw up close what his selfishness had caused, he felt like crap. Dan Scott hadn't been any kind of father to him the first sixteen years of his life, but he'd been working overtime the last few months to change that, and Lucas honestly didn't doubt anymore that the man loved him as much as he did Nathan. With his bad heart, Dan didn't deserve what his sons had put him through this night … once upon a time maybe, but not anymore.

Lucas offered him a tired but apologetic smile, hoping to lighten his worry. "I'm okay, Dad. Really."

Dan couldn't speak. Desperately, he wrapped Lucas in a hug and held on tight with his eyes shut, then he let him go and repeated the process with Nathan.

Over Dan's shoulder, Nathan smirked at his brother and winked. So much for Luke's theory about them getting their asses spanked. Their dad was obviously way too relieved that his boys were still in one piece to bother with punishment.

Nathan was wrong, of course.

As soon as Dan released his second-born, his jaw hardened and his dimples began to pulse, his eyes travelling angrily from one son to the other.

 _"All right, whose bright idea was it to steal the car?"_ he demanded.

Nathan felt his gut twist as it always did when his dad was pissed at him, but he didn't get a chance to say anything before Lucas jumped in and lied.

"It was mine, Dad."

"No, it wasn't, Luke." Nathan shot his brother a look, then squared his shoulders as he faced their father. "It was mine."

 _"So you did all the driving?"_

"No, he didn't," Lucas said, stepping forward again. "I did most of the driving and I was the one who started the car."

"But I crashed it," Nathan admitted before Lucas could try to take responsibility for that too. "Luke tried to tell me to slow down, but I wouldn't listen."

 _"And how did you get the keys when you were grounded to your rooms?"_

Nathan glanced over at his brother, then sighed and turned to Dan. "I snuck in and stole them while you were sleeping. Luke didn't have anything to do with it. This whole thing is all my fault."

That was enough for Dan, who suddenly took their hands in his own and pulled them after him toward the guest parking lot and the family's SUV. Both boys immediately tried to pull their hands free as they looked around in a panic to see if anyone was watching, but of the two, Nathan was definitely the most vocal in his outrage.

"Dad!"

"What're you doing, Dad?! We're in public! Let go!"

Dan did not.

Lucas glanced over at Nathan still struggling to free himself with everything he had, but stopped trying to do the same on his side. Instead, he sought a different tactic. "Dad, you don't have to do this," he suggested quietly. "We'll come with you, I promise. We're really sorry."

"Not as sorry as you're going to be, son."

"Quit it, Dad! This is stupid!" Nathan cried. "We're not ten years old!"

"Shut it, Nathan. We'll discuss your behavior at home."

"No! You can't—"

 _ **"NATHAN!"**_

Never once had Nathan heard his father roar at him like that, not at home where no one could hear, not even in their Ford Expedition on the way back from basketball camp his freshman year when he had "completely failed to live up to the Scott potential". He sure as hell didn't want his dad yelling like that again while holding his hand on the street where other people could see, so he shut his mouth and let Dan drag him the rest of the way like a toddler, acutely aware of their non-private surroundings. On the other side of Dan, Lucas did the same, but he only had one thought on his mind.

He did _not_ want to go home…


	7. A Hint of What's To Come

The ride back to the mansion was made in dead silence.

When they got there Deb was waiting for them at the front door, but Dan barely spared her a glance. In the driveway, he barked at both boys to get their butts inside the house, and then he gave them each one helluva spank toward Deb when they didn't move fast enough to suit him.

"Ow!" Nathan yelped and grabbed his behind, but it got him moving and Lucas was right behind him.

"My office. _Now!_ "

Deb hugged her chest and stepped back to let everyone in, but as soon as the boys were inside, she planted herself so she was blocking her husband's path. She did not like the look brewing on his face.

"No, Dan. Not when you're like this."

 _"I'm fine."_

"No, you're not."

" _Deb_ —"

"I mean it, Dan. We talked about this. I said I would allow you to punish the boys with a spanking for what they did, but I will not allow you to touch them until you've calmed down and you can prove to me that you're in control of yourself. You need to go into the kitchen and find something else to do for a minute. I don't care what it is, all right...?"

The boys held their collective breath and looked from one parent to the other, but finally Dan's shoulders relaxed a bit and he nodded stiffly. Of course, the look he gave his sons on the way out of the room told them this definitely wasn't over, and Nathan, for one, believed him. He waited until Dan had gone then sneered at his mother.

"Way to go, Mom. You gave Dad permission to beat us?"

"Not to _beat_ you, Nathan," Deb corrected sharply. "To _spank_ you like I should have done years ago myself when you really began shoving that attitude of yours in my face. Now go to your dad's office and wait like he told you to. Both of you!"

For the second time that night, Nathan saw a side of one of his parents that he really didn't like. He stalked down the hall then stopped when he realized his brother wasn't following.

Lucas was looking at Deb. "My mom—" he began, but Deb cut him off.

"You can call her in the morning, Lucas, and tell her you're fine."

"But I—"

"You what? You don't want the spanking Nathan's going to get? You're hoping Karen will come to your rescue and get you out of it?" Deb took a step closer and stared at him with the same stern disappointment his own mother would have. "Well, I am sorry, little boy, but Karen is fully aware of what you're in for and she supports Dan and me completely. In fact, you should count yourself lucky you're staying the night with us, because she was more than ready to come get you, so she could take you back home and spank your behind herself. And at your age, I'm sure you would much rather have your bare bottom slapped by Dan than by Karen, wouldn't you?"

Lucas couldn't answer. With his face on fire, he stood unmoving while Deb arched an eyebrow at him then turned on her heel to go join her husband in the kitchen. Nathan felt his face grow hot too as he observed his humiliated brother. God knows, he shared his shame.

"Come on, Luke." He jerked his head toward Dan's office. "Let's go before they find a way to cut us down some more."

Lucas looked sick to his stomach as he followed Nathan down the hall. In the office, he rubbed absently at the sting Dan had delivered in the driveway then slowly raised his eyes to meet Nathan's.

"We can't run away from this, can we?"

"I don't have much money saved. Do you?"

"No ... so I guess this is really gonna happen. Again."

Nathan looked at him, clearly peeved. "You said it would. I just didn't wanna believe you."

"Well, I didn't wanna believe me either."

Nathan was too annoyed by their situation to even know what to reply to that. He frowned and reached back to feel the spot Dan had slapped a few minutes before on his own backside, unable to help wondering what a full-fledged spanking was going to feel like. He had certainly never had one before. Up until recently, Dan's discipline had mostly consisted of insulting him so he doubted his self-worth or forcing him to work out until he was close to exhaustion and he'd rather roll over and die.

Did he _want_ to experience a spanking?

Why the heck was he still hanging around?

Nathan didn't know because it's not like he and his brother really didn't have places they could escape to without money. They had lots of them since they had plenty of friends. They could crash with Skills or Mouth or even Dim Tim or one of the girls ... except how long could they do that? Not many parents in Tree Hill would accept a single teenaged houseguest for an indefinite period of time; welcoming two was definitely out of the question. Besides, did Lucas even _want_ to leave home permanently? Did Nathan himself? He had already done it once and the whole experiment had been an abysmal failure, so in all honesty, he wasn't ready to do it again. Now that his dad was much easier to live with, and his parents weren't fighting bitterly anymore, and Lucas was right across the hall, he actually liked living at home. The freedom from adult responsibility was amazing. Getting spanked from now on whenever he messed up big was a small price to pay, wasn't it, all things considered?

Nathan was truly disgusted that he thought so. Resigning himself to a situation he never would have accepted four short months ago, he looked over at his brother whose depressive acceptance pretty much mirrored his own.

"I can't believe this is happening to us, Luke."

Lucas opened his mouth to respond but never got the chance.


	8. Nathan Gets it First

" _Believe it_ ," Dan said, startling them both as he suddenly marched into the room then shut and locked the door. Instinctively, the boys edged away from him and took a step closer together, but Dan put a stop to that immediately when he focused on his firstborn. "Lucas, get in that corner over there by the window and face the wall. You're next."

Lucas hesitated for only a second before he glanced sheepishly at Nathan then did as he was told without argument. Nathan watched him go then backed up another step as it hit him that he was going to be first.

"Dad, wait, okay? Don't do this. I screwed up huge, I know that, but I don't need a spanking to learn my lesson. I'm sixteen not six. I'm emancipated. This-This is friggin' crazy!"

"Oh it is, is it?" Dan didn't blink while he calmly began rolling up the sleeves on both his arms. "From what I can see, Nathan, you don't respect your mother and me, you don't respect our rules, and you sure as hell don't respect our property. And I know why you don't. It's because I didn't raise you right the first time around and I never backed up your mother when she tried to step in. Well, son, this is Round Two and I _am_ determined to get it right this time. Ask your brother if you don't believe me."

"I don't have to, Dad. He told me what you did to him, but—"

"But nothing, Nathan. If Lucas told you how I punished him for lying and stealing, then you both should have been smart enough to stay in bed tonight instead of sneaking out."

"Luke didn't tell me _before_ we snuck out, Dad! He only told me _after_ we crashed the damn car!"

"So you're saying, if you'd known, the threat of a spanking would've stopped your idiocy?"

"Of course not, but—"

"Of course not?" Dan's nostrils flared as he began to unbuckle his belt. "That's what I thought, but let's see what I can do to change your mind for next time. Drop your pants, son."

In the corner, Lucas flinched at the sound of leather being released, but in front of Dan, Nathan refused to show fear. He tried to look unconcerned and made a show of curling his lip as he shook his head.

"No way, Dad. No way."

"Drop your pants and get over here, Nathan, or so help me God, I will make you."

As Dan yanked his black leather belt through the final loops of his pants, then doubled it and took a seat on the same leather chair he had sat in to spank Lucas twelve weeks prior, Nathan glanced at the door and remembered that it was locked. To escape, he would have to fight his way out, but he also knew he couldn't do that. Punching his dad in temper for insulting Haley right after she skipped out on their marriage was one thing; engaging in a full-fledge battle that he would probably lose was another.

He glanced behind him at his brother standing obediently in the corner, and then turned back to Dan with a deliberate smirk.

"Okay, Dad. You win. You wanna whip my ass for trashing your car? Fine." Nathan shrugged. "Go ahead. But you will _never_ make cry like you did Lucas 'cause I can take whatever you dish out."

Of course, Nathan could not.

After he sauntered to Dan's side, shoved his track pants and boxers to mid-thigh, and then draped himself – still full up with confidence – over his father's lap, the reality of a spanking hit him quite literally within seconds. It only took two licks to get Nathan hissing, another two to get him squirming and three more to get him yelling. By the thirteenth spank, he _was_ crying, completely unprepared for this type of pain, which didn't compare with any he had ever known before. It wasn't anything at all like the sore muscles he sometimes suffered while training for basketball; it wasn't even like the nauseating throb of a broken bone. It had no friggin' valleys during which Nathan could catch his breath. It only had peaks that kept rising, levels of agony that somehow kept topping the ones coming before. It was like a second-degree burn that kept renewing itself and flatly refused to heal.

"Dad! OWWW! Stop! Stop! _S-S-Stop!_ "

Above him, Dan had been waiting for Nathan to break, but now that his son had, he knew he wasn't even close to being finished. He raised the belt again and applied it seventeen more times before he lay it aside, set his jaw even tighter, and then finished him off with the palm of his hand, his slaps concentrated more than ever on the undercurves of Nathan's buttocks. He wanted Nathan to feel this punishment and remember it the next few times he sat down, to encourage second thoughts if ever the boy was foolish enough to re-attempt grand theft auto.

Nathan was already sure he would. In fact, he was _convinced_ he would take this lesson to his grave and maybe into his next ten lives!

"D-Da-aaad!"

Struggling across Dan's lap, Nathan was absolutely desperate to rise, and he sobbed with a combination of pain and frustration once it became clear he wasn't going anywhere until his father alone was ready to let him up. Finally, he understood what Lucas had gone through three months before. He got it now. With no options left but to accept responsibility for what he had done this night, he swallowed his pride and began to beg.

"P-Please, Dad! I'm s-sorry! Owwww! _Daddy, I'm sorry! Daddy, I said I'm sorry! P-Please, Daddy! I said I'm sorry!"_

Dan kept going because he knew his son. He knew Nathan wasn't sorry enough. At this stage he was only sorry about the cavalier attitude he had displayed along with the fact that he couldn't escape. He didn't truly regret stealing the Bugatti yet, and he wouldn't until the sobs coming from within turned deep and there wasn't a single word he could articulate through his cries. That moment came less than a minute later, but Dan still gave him another ten smacks to reinforce the lesson, spanking him four times harder than he had been up until this point. Then it was over. He rested his spanking hand on Nathan's back and rubbed it to offer some comfort, to let Nathan know that he _was_ still loved no matter how unfair his punishment felt.

Across Dan's lap, of course, Nathan wasn't really feeling anything except agony. He drew a hand back painstakingly to feel the skin on his behind and to ensure it was still in one piece, and then he sobbed harder when it hurt like crazy at first to even do that. He wanted to get up and get away from Dan, but everything burned and he didn't have the strength. He couldn't believe Lucas had survived this hell once before. It hurt to move, it hurt to breathe, it even hurt to cry, but eventually the sting in his bottom seemed to get no worse and it even seemed to be receding a little. His tears tapered off and he pulled himself together. He swiped an arm across his runny nose and his eyes, and then he pushed himself up, sulking down at Dan with both hands clapped behind him.

Anger and respect warred for dominance on Nathan's face, but Dan didn't wait for one or the other to win out. He met his sniffling son's petulant gaze head on while he spoke.

"Nathan, pull your pants up and go take your brother's spot in the corner. Lucas, turn around and come here."


	9. Lucas Takes His Turn

Slowly, the brothers changed places, their gazes firmly fixed on their feet as they passed each other by. At his father's side with the man reaching once again for his discarded belt, Lucas looked at Dan pleadingly.

"Dad, I'm sor—"

"Drop your pants and get over my knees, son."

"Please, Daddy, I—"

 _"Lucas, if you think you're getting any less than your brother just did, you are seriously mistaken. Now drop those pants and get over my knees before I decide to give you more."_

Slowly, Luke's fingers edged toward the belt around his waist and the top button on his jeans. His memories of last time were painfully sharp at this point, each one made worse by what he had overheard Nathan going through moments before. How he wished he could get out of this! He couldn't though, and it was all his fault. He should have remembered this situation would be the likely outcome the second he had let Nathan convince him to "borrow" the Bugatti.

Still, he paused and begged Dan silently with his eyes once his zipper was down, but his father only nodded for him to continue, then gave him a look of warning that he had better hurry up.

Lucas couldn't do it. He knew his jeans were going to fall right to the floor once he let them go, so he held the material tight while he pushed it down in pint-sized stages, moving at a crawl even though he knew he was only postponing the inevitable. With his jeans finally at his feet, he straightened up and hooked his thumbs inside the waistband of his boxer briefs, pausing once more to gaze down at Dan in a final bid for leniency.

Dan, however, was thoroughly fed up. Before Lucas could react, Dan reached up and took over, yanking his son's briefs with one merciless tug and jerking everything straight to Luke's ankles.

"Da-aad!"

Dan's response to that was just as swift. He pulled Lucas over his knees, tucked him in close, then raised the belt and delivered the first three of his thirty licks.

"Ow! Dad, I'm sorry! Ow! Owww! _Please, Daddy, slow down!"_

In the corner facing the wall, Nathan rubbed his sore behind and flinched, knowing exactly what his brother was feeling. A small part of him was tempted to sneak a few peeks to watch a spanking in progress now that his own butt was no longer the target, but he couldn't do it. He might get spanked again if he got caught spying, and besides, he knew firsthand how Lucas was suffering, how humiliating it was to know your brother's only a few feet away, hearing you get your bare butt strapped in punishment over Dad's knee. He hoped for Lucas's sake that their dad slowed his pace soon and had no doubts that, across Dan's lap, Lucas was definitely praying for the same.

He was.

 _"Owwwww! Daddy! P-Please!"_

Dan kept going. He cut back a little so he wasn't hitting as fast, then cut back a little more so he wasn't striking as hard either, but if Lucas felt the difference he didn't show it. His shoes drummed the floor, his hips were in constant motion and the palm of his right hand was everywhere, shifting east and west behind him, trying to anticipate the belt's path to block it. Dan let that go on for all of five seconds before he trapped Luke's hand in his own and held on tight, and then he went right back to whipping the teenaged bottom before him. Just like with Nathan, Dan dropped the belt when the count reached thirty, and just like with Nathan, Lucas had long since been crying.

"Da-addy! I'm s-sorry! I s-swear it! I'm s-s-sorry!"

Dan listened but still he kept going using his hand. He slapped his firstborn's clenching bare bottom with the same intensity he had slapped Nathan's, his very sore palm focused exclusively on Luke's sit-spots until they were as red as Dan's face had grown during his phone call earlier with Sheriff Mathers. Only then did he stop.

Over his lap Lucas promptly collapsed, his loud, wracking sobs definitely on a par with Nathan's several minutes before. For Lucas, this session was so much worse than the first had been three months before. For one thing, he had never received the belt that time, and for another, there had been no extra witnesses. Neither Deb nor Nathan had overheard him crying and begging that Saturday night in March, but tonight ... tonight there could be no pretending that his spanking had been private, that only he and his father would know about it. Hell, he couldn't even console himself with the knowledge that at least his mom was still in the dark, because she wasn't either. She knew he had been spanked because she had given her permission for Dan to do it to him, which meant she was pissed beyond measure as well and might even swat his rear end herself the next time he passed by the house.

Lucas truly wished he was dead.

Since he wasn't though and his punishment was finally over – even if his ass might never recover the way it was currently burning – Lucas did the only thing he could to try and regain his dignity: he sucked up his snot, mopped up his tears and climbed to his feet. His boxers and his jeans were on the other side of the room, kicked off at some point during his belting, so he padded over to get them with a hitching chest. He was definitely too sore and upset to care much that he was walking around half-naked and rubbing his butt in front of his dad at the age of sixteen.

Dan waited until Lucas was dressed again before he called his second son from the corner.

"Nathan, get out here and come stand by your brother."


	10. A Family At Last

Nathan came out of the corner but kept his head down, saving Lucas the embarrassment of making eye contact when his pain was still so raw.

For over a minute, Dan let them stand before him and hold their backsides protectively. He said nothing to either of them because he knew he didn't need to lecture. His boys were well aware of what they had done wrong and why they had been punished, so this moment of silence was only to get everyone brooding about it now that it was over. If his sons had any sense at all, they were deciding two things: (1) spankings sucked, and (2) they were never going to earn another. Of course, knowing how Nathan and Lucas seemed to bring out the devil in the other Dan wasn't counting on it, so he considered what else he could do to them and finally, he spoke.

"Listen up, you two. When you get upstairs, I want you to set your alarms for 7 AM and then go to bed. I don't want you talking. I don't want you comparing 'war wounds'. I want you sleeping because at 7:05 I expect you both out there on the court running suicides."

"Christ, Dad, that's not even three hours from now and you just—"

As Nathan's head shot up and the whining began, Dan pinned him with look. "And if you're _late_ , you can count on another trip over my knee, got it?" Dan looked hard from one miserable son to the other to ensure his message was well-received, and then he dismissed them both with a curt nod toward the door. "Good. Now go to bed."

The brothers went, mostly in silence. They expected to see Deb waiting for them nearby to ask if they were all right, but either she couldn't take hearing their punishment and had disappeared upstairs, or she had decided early on that they weren't deserving of maternal sympathy. Ultimately, her absence was just as well. A red-eyed Nathan was too busy holding his butt cheeks through his track pants and hissing with every step he took to bother with conversation, and Lucas really didn't care to speak. He had enough to do just sniffling, waddling and rubbing his own behind in a pointless effort to relieve the ache.

In the hallway upstairs, the boys parted to head into their separate bedrooms, but before either teenager had stepped inside his private sanctuary, Nathan stopped.

"Hey, Luke."

Slowly – and very painfully – Lucas turned around. "What?"

Nathan shrugged. "I'm thinking suicides at the crack of dawn are pretty far from what we can take after tonight. You wanna come with me later when I unplug Dad's alarm clock?"

Lucas took a step toward him, winced immediately, and regretted his plan. He narrowed his gaze instead at the mischievous twinkle in Nathan's eyes. "You know, I'd kick your ass right now for suggesting that if mine wasn't already so sore."

"Come on. Anyway, you think we would've gotten in trouble this much if we'd grown up together from the start?"

"With you and your stupid ideas, and me not telling you to go to hell when I should, yeah, I'm pretty sure we would have."

As Lucas turned from him in annoyance and headed once more towards his room, Nathan called after him a second time. "Hey, Luke."

"What, dammit?"

"We really are a family now, aren't we?"

Lucas couldn't help it. He turned back to Nathan in stages, thinking of all they had been through to get to this point, and finally offered him a lopsided grin. "Yeah, Little Brother. I really think we are."

[2]


End file.
